In Hiding
by timetofly116
Summary: Angelina almost got away unharmed, but now a ruthless killer is after her, looking for revenge. When she meets Scipio and the others, it may be her only chance at safety... or she won't be the only one who ends up dead.
1. Christmas Day

_Disclaimer- I do not own The Thief Lord._

_Clarify: Scipio is fifteen in this fanfic; I'll probably get to that is later. _

_Note: Two years after The Thief Lord. __Not a sequel to my other fanfic._

Christmas Day

Scipio, Prosper, Ida, Victor, Mosca, Riccio and Hornet sat down at the dinner table. They ate a good meal, cooked by Lucia before she went home to be with her own family. It was a wonderful day.

They all exchanged presents. Everyone had a good time. And finally, Victor, Scipio, Mosca and Riccio went home.

Scipio couldn't remember having Christmases like this when he still lived with his father. His father was usually doing something, so he ate dinner with the maids. They didn't usually speak English, so it was usually quiet. His father would give him something expensive that Scipio didn't want, and Scipio would kick it under his bed with all the other unwanted Christmas and birthday presents he'd gotten over the years. Once he got older he started selling them on the internet. His father always told him he should learn to make his own money.

Once Scipio was back in his room again, he tried to fall asleep. Snow started to fall and, deciding he wasn't going to fall asleep anytime soon, walked over to his window to watch it. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted a girl sitting on a bench, looking out toward the canal. She was covered with snow, but she didn't seem to mind.

Scipio crept down the stairs. Victor was asleep in his room. Scipio pulled on his coat and walked toward the girl. "What are you doing out here?" He asked her. "Don't you know it's nearly midnight? On Christmas Day?"

The girl turned her head. She hadn't noticed he was there. She didn't answer him.

"Aren't you cold?" Scipio asked. The girl was only wearing a t-shirt and jeans.

"Not really," the girl answered him. "Coats are for wimps." She spoke Italian well, but her accent was rough. Scipio doubted that she was from around there.

"That's funny, because your lips are turning blue."

The girl shot him a glare. "Why don't you leave me alone? Go home."

"I live in that apartment right there," Scipio said, pointing. "I can see you from the window."

The girl got up and started to walk away. She took a clumsy step and fell face-first onto the ground.

"Are you okay?" Scipio asked her.

"I'm fine." Scipio lent her his hand. She took it. "Thanks."

Scipio saw a thin, white scar about half an inch long along her hairline, half way between her eye and her ear. He noticed she was pretty, even in the dark. Not the super-model type, but above average.

"What's your name?"

"Angelina. And yours?"

"Scipio."

"Cute. You're named after a general."

"Are you a tourist?"

"Um… No," Angelina answered like she was unsure. That was odd. "I live on the other side of town."

"Have you lived here long? Your Italian sounds off."

Angelina's eyes widened and she turned around and ran. Scipio tried to fallow her, but she disappeared, as if she was never there.

"This has been a very strange night," Scipio murmured to himself as he went back inside.

Angelina was sitting back at her home. She was scared. She figured if that Scipio guy could figure out she wasn't from around there, so could other people. Including the person she was running from. She would have to work at it.

She had gone through so much already, changing her name, fleeing America, finding a place to live. And she was all alone.

Angelina lived in a run-down house in the worst part of town. It was for sale by the owner, but no one wanted it, and the owner only came to check on it on Wednesdays. So, as long as Angelina was careful, she was safe. Hopefully.

And most of all, she didn't want to run into Scipio again. She could hit herself for telling him her real name. And she couldn't bring herself to lie to him. He was cute.

She curled up on the floor in a closet with a blanket. It was so cold. There was no heating, and she had no money.

Angelina heard a noise at the door. Someone was there. She heard glass shatter. It was pretty easy to guess what was going on. The house was being robbed.

Angelina peeked out of her closet. She saw a shape enter the room. Didn't he know the house was for sale? And most of the valuables were already moved out? He started to take everything. His flashlight beams shined around the room. The person started pulling up the carpet and unscrewing the light bulbs, which Angelina hadn't been able to use because the power was shut off. He went back out of the room and Angelina reached for the closest thing that she could hit with. It was the lamp, which occupied the closet with her. She was terrified for her life.

The burglar entered the room and Angelina heard him come toward the door. He opened the door and… _Whack!_ She hit him. He fell down and Angelina, afraid she killed him, made sure he was breathing. Then she dashed out the back door, afraid that the burglar would wake up.

She needed a new place to hide. She looked around. _What a wonderful way to end Christmas day, _she thought to herself, sarcastically. She ran far enough away that she couldn't see the little house she resided for two weeks, and kept running. She came to a building that was unused. She heard that it was a theater, and at one point it was supposed to be made into a supermarket. The plan was abandoned by the owner, and now it was empty. The sign said 'Stella Theater'. It wasn't lit up anymore.

Angelina looked inside. It was dark, but it was big. She loved it. She could easily imagine herself living there for a while. She saw a large square taken out of the curtain's fabric. _That's odd, _she thought.

Angelina went to the safest place she could see and curled up. She valued the last bit of warmth in her body and gently fell asleep.


	2. Found

_Disclaimer-I do not own The Thief Lord, obviously. _

Found

Angelina woke up when the pale grey light of morning filtered into the theater, and it took Angelina a moment to realize where she was. The Stella looked so much more beautiful when it was light. It was a palace, a castle, and as Angelina looked over it all, she felt like its queen.

She realized she wasn't very cold anymore, which came as a pleasant surprise. The weather changed and all the snow outside melted.

Angelina's stomach rumbled as fierce as a bear, and she struggled to remember when she last ate. She put her hand in her pocket. She touched her lire note, which happened to be her very last one. What could she get for that? If she was lucky, she could get a bagel. She didn't want to think of what she'd have to do next time she needed money.

She dashed down to a breakfast shop that she went to before. It was the cheapest place she could find. Also, it was sort of lower class, so not many people went there. In her position, it didn't hurt to be careful.

The extremely overweight manager was asleep at the front desk, and for a second Angelina thought he was dead. But then he started snoring very loudly, and Angelina almost wished he were dead.

The TV screen on the desk was turned on. Angelina saw it was the news. Some forty year old newscaster was talking. She had obsessive amounts of make-up that made her look like she was trying to look younger, without any success. "The break-in is indeed odd," she said. "The burglar, who was identified to be twenty-one year old Carlos Gallo, was found unconscious after breaking into the house. The police believe a lamp fell on his head."

_Yeah, _Angelina thought. _The lamp 'fell' on his head._ The newscaster went on to talk about more details about the burglary.

Meanwhile, Scipio was watching the same newscast. He wasn't particularly interested in it. He was thinking of the girl he met the night before. It was so weird. And when she ran away, that was really unusual.

Of course, she had to be a runaway. Normal kids wouldn't act the way she did. There were a million places in Venice she could be hiding. Maybe the life of a runaway was the one that suited her best, like it did with Riccio and Mosca, but it might not be.

Scipio wondered what had driven her to run away. Maybe she lived at an orphanage or had bad parents.

And he wondered how long she been on her own, and how she supported herself.

Angelina walked out of the shop with her bagel. She finally had to think about how she was going to get more money. When she first came to Venice with a hundred dollars she thought she'd get a job. Of course, that was a stupid idea, especially if it kept her in the public eye.

A lump formed in her throat. Would she have to steal? Growing up in her family, stealing, along with murder and drugs, was the worst thing you could do. She remembered 

when her sister started shoplifting. Her parents had found out and begged her and pleaded with her to turn her life around, but Ellie refused. Her parents eventually made her move out when she turned eighteen because they couldn't handle it anymore. Then on, they stressed that Angelina always be an upstanding citizen. _Does the no stealing thing still apply if you absolutely have to?_ Angelina asked herself, although she knew she wouldn't get an answer. She wondered if her parents approved of her.

Back when Angelina still lived in America she read a book series about a teenage spy. For one of his missions, he needed to pit-pocket some guy. She remembered vaguely what he did.

She mingled with a group of American tourists and exclaimed, rather loudly in English, "I've been robbed!"

The other people didn't care if Angelina lost her money, but they all had to make sure they still had their wallets. She saw a man take out his wallet from his back pants pocket, and put it back. He would be her target. She casually wandered up to him and 'accidently' bumped him, hard enough so he wouldn't realize his wallet slip from his pants pocket.

"Sorry," Angelina said quickly, hiding the wallet behind her back. She scurried on back to the Stella. The wallet was filled with plenty of souvenir money, and she felt good, for a moment, anyway. But then she remembered her family looking down at her in heaven, and Angelina through the wallet across the room, and her eyes filled with tears. She didn't feel good about herself at all.

She cried for a long time, and her tear drops fell on the carpet. She missed her family so much, and she hadn't cried since long before the fire. Finally, she dried her eyes, got up, fetched the wallet, and left the wallet in front of a busy store. The man she stole from should at least get his credit cards back.

Right after Angelina got rid of the wallet, Hornet was going to the book store. On her way, she passed the Stella, and saw a girl slip in the entrance. How odd. But, Hornet reasoned, there were a million reasons the girl might go there, though Hornet could only think of a few. When she came home from the book store she'd drop in at the theater to see if the girl was still there.

Hornet bought three books with the twenty dollars Victor had given her for Christmas for that purpose. One of them she thought Bo would like to hear. When she came back she came to the door of the Stella, and opened it slowly. She couldn't believe that she hadn't been there since she moved in to Ida's.

When she first came in, everything looked like it should. There was a layer of dust covering everything and cob webs gathered in the corners. It was almost if no one had been there in a long time. Almost. But Hornet noticed several foot prints in the dust, and all of them were the same size.

Hornet looked around. She walked past the remaining seats, and she headed up the staircase. There were just two staircases that met in the middle that people used to sit at to watch the movie. At the top she found nothing but a blanket.

Suddenly she felt something cold at her neck. "What are you doing here?" An unfriendly voice said.

Hornet didn't answer the question. "Honestly, are you actually going to slit my throat?"

"I might if I have to."

Hornet doubted it. The girl sounded about her age, and if she was the same girl Hornet saw walk into the theater then she couldn't be more than fifteen.

"I saw you come in earlier, and I wanted to see if anyone was here."

"You have to leave."

"You're not scaring me. Put down the knife. People know I'm here."

"You're bluffing."

Hornet was bluffing, but she wasn't going to admit it. She knew the other girl was bluffing, too. "So are you."

The girl didn't say anything for a couple seconds, and then sighed. She pulled the knife away, and Hornet turned to face the girl. It was defiantly the same girl, and she had one really distinctive feature that Hornet hadn't realized before. One of her eyes was green, the other was blue. The only reason for that Hornet could think of is she was wearing one colored contact, but that wouldn't make much sense.

"So what are you doing here?"

"It's none of your business." The girl didn't look too angry anymore.

"My name's Hornet."

"That's an unusual name," the girl said teasingly.

"It's a nickname. I don't like my real one."

"My name's Angelina. You won't tell anyone I'm here, will you?"

"It depends. What are you doing here? And I want the truth."

"I sort of ran away." Hornet could see something else in her multicolored eyes. It looked like fear.

"Why?"

"I'm an orphan."

"Oh." Hornet could understand that. She didn't want to live at the orphanage, she ran away… It was completely understandable. "I ran away once, and now I live with a lady named Ida Spavento. She took in some of my friends, too. I'm sure she would take you in to, if you wanted."

"I can't."

"Okay. So… are you just going to live here? During the winter?"

"Basically."

"I lived here, too."

"Really?"

"Yeah, with my friends. There were five of us altogether."

"What happened?"

"I guess our lives sort of fell apart for a little bit, but now we're all happier than we were." Hornet remembered the nights when she stayed up late, reading to the boys, when they traded loot with Barbarossa, and spending hours with her best friends. She missed those days a little bit, but what she said was true. She was happier.

"Did all of you stay together?"

"Well, my best friend, his brother and I stayed together, but two of us are still living on their own, but they chose that." Hornet realized after all this time, two years, she still referred to the old thief gang as 'us'.

"Do you still see them?"

"Yeah, all the time. They sometimes stay for dinner, and I always see them for holidays. I saw them yesterday, as a matter of fact. And I also see my other friend even more often."

"That's good."

"Tell me about you."

"Well…"

"If you don't want to, that's fine."

"Thanks," Angelina sounded relieved.

"Okay, I have to go," Hornet said, glancing at her watch. "Oh, but if you don't mind if I ask, why..."

"Are my eyes different colors?" Angelina finished. "I have heterochromia. It doesn't bother me at all. It just makes me look unusual. An actress named Kate Bosworth has it, have you ever heard of her?"

Hornet shook her head. When she started to walk out, Angelina shouted after her, "You won't tell anyone I'm here, promise? Not even your friends?"

"I promise."

**Special thanks to Anthony Horowitz, author of the Alex Rider series, from whom I got the pit-pocket info.**

**Sincerely,**

**timetofly116**


	3. Two Months Later

_Disclaimer- I do not own The Thief Lord._

Two Months Later

Angelina hadn't slept very well the night before because of some screaming kid and his friends were playing all night outside the Stella, until one in the morning. When she woke up her hair looked like she had stuck it in a blender. Once she brushed it out she got her sun hat that shaded most of her face, and went to pick up some food and clothes and everything else she needed.

When she went to town, a twelve year old boy who was at least a few inches shorter than her was like, "You have funny looking eyes."

Angelina was tired of hearing this comment and lack of sleep was making her irritable. "I know. I have a fatal condition that makes them that way, and I only have a month to live," Angelina told him. The boy walked away, obviously believing her. That was her usual response when people made fun of her. None of it was true, and Angelina knew she was being mean, but she could pick out a less-than-perfect feature on everyone and she was sure they weren't mocked about it. A person can only take so much. Although, now that she thought about it, that thing about only having a month to live could very well be true.

Angelina walked into a store, and she felt the scary feeling that she was being watched. What she didn't know there were two people who were watching her.

Scipio walked down the street. He had his hands in his pockets. He was bored. He didn't have much to do these days. Victor was getting less and less cases, and even though he'd been going to school, and when he finished off his homework, he was right where he started, again.

Of course, when he was bored like this he usually thought about his days as the Thief Lord. He was mysterious then, and there was always a little bit of wonder.

As he walked through town, he saw a girl with a large hat on. She had brown hair that went down to her shoulders. He saw her walk into a crowd of people, and bump into a heavy set man. The girl, so quickly it was hardly realizable, slipped her fingers into the man's back pocket and pulled out a wallet.

Scipio fallowed her. She had her back to him the entire time and Scipio hadn't seen her face.

She walked into an alley and he saw her drop the wallet onto the ground. She looked back and Scipio dodged behind a building. He got a clear view of her face. It was the girl he had met on Christmas, he was pretty sure. But in the dark he hadn't realized her eyes were two different colors. How odd. One of Scipio's father's dogs was like that, with one eye brown and one blue.

She didn't see him and she kept walking. What did she say her name was? Angela? No, Angelina. That was it. He saw Angelina cram the money into her front jeans pocket. The girl dodged into another crowd, and in his rush he bumped into a man in his mid-twenties. His nose looked like it had been broken, and there was a tattoo of a green skull on the back of his neck.

For a second Scipio lost his concentration on the girl. He quickly glanced back but he didn't spot her. He said sorry to the man, who scowled in the direction the girl went, and Scipio didn't get the impression he was scowling at him.

Scipio went through the crowd and didn't see Angelina. He cursed. She could be anywhere.

Prosper sat at Ida's dinner table. Hornet was next to him. They'd been dating for two weeks in secret after he finally gathered up the guts to tell her how he felt. No one knew.

Victor and Scipio showed up for dinner. Scipio seemed to be thinking about something. He didn't talk much. Or eat much either, for that matter.

Hornet noticed, too. When they were alone, she asked him what was on his mind. "Nothing," he answered.

Hornet scrutinized him. She didn't believe him. Usually he lied better.

Hornet had a crush on Scipio. She always had. She knew she had Prosper and she liked him a lot, but she never fully gave up on Scipio. Scipio and Prosper were completely different people and she couldn't bring herself to choose which one she liked more.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah," he replied. "I'm just… tired."

"I see."

Scipio went home. Hornet got ready for bed. She would have liked to believe that Scipio was telling her the truth, but she didn't. Scipio was always lying. It was just his way. That was defiantly something she liked about Prosper than Scipio; Prosper was always honest with her.

Finally Hornet got herself to fall asleep.

A man walked the streets. He was deadly. He wasn't one to be reckoned with. And he had a target. And when he was out to get someone, he couldn't be stopped.

**I know this chapter is a little short, but I have writer's block. I redid this chapter three times. I hope you like it.**

**timetofly116**


	4. Mistaken Identity

_Disclaimer- I do not own The Thief Lord. _

_This chapter is a bit more sinister than the last few. Enjoy!_

Mistaken Identity

A girl walked down the street one night. She was a tourist from America. Her mommy and daddy weren't rich, but she got whatever she wanted. Except, of course, when she wanted to explore on her own her parents insisted it was too dangerous. They tried to convince her that even in Venice there were dangers.

Obviously, the girl didn't care about dangers. And the city was just so pretty. So she snuck out after her parents went to bed. It wasn't hard to get past the night clerk at the hotel; he was so oblivious she could have danced in the middle of the lobby and he wouldn't notice her.

She skipped down a narrow alleyway. Her dark blond hair blew in the wind. She was fifteen years old. In her opinion she was an adult. She could do whatever she wanted. She _would_ do whatever she wanted.

A rat scurried past her. She squealed. Rats were such dirty little creatures! She hurried on toward the canal. She looked down into the water. The moon shimmered of the surface. It was really beautiful. The girl pulled out her camera and took a picture. She hoped it would turn out. Her camera didn't even have a flash.

She hurried back along the alleyways. Suddenly she heard footsteps behind her. She turned around, and saw a man. He stopped and pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and placed it between his lips. He was wearing a thick coat, and even though he couldn't be more than five-foot-six, she could see he was a big guy. He was wearing a black mask.

The feeling he gave her didn't feel right. She got a bad feeling about him, so she decided to walk away. Yet again she heard footsteps behind her. It was the man. Was he fallowing her?

The girl, overcome with fear, started running. The man chased her. The girl screamed but no one heard her.

She was fast. Back home she was on a track team. But she didn't know where she was going. All too soon she found herself running down a street full of shops. No one would be in any of these places at night.

The man still chased her. She took a chance and glanced back, and he smiled evilly at her. She screamed again, and at last came to the door of a hotel. She pulled at the door, but it was locked. She started banging, but nobody came to let her in. The man was ten feet away and getting closer. She banged some more. Within seconds she knew no one was going to let her in. The man was getting to close. She felt tears in her eyes as she took off. She was so close to getting away. So close.

She rounded a sharp turn and stopped abruptly and turned around, and when the man came around the corner she surprised him by running past him the way they just were.

The girl felt herself growing tired. She wished her parents were there.

She ran into an alley and to her dismay she saw a solid wall at the end of it. She was trapped. He was right behind her and smiled a crooked smile when he saw he was going to win this evil game of tag.

He slid a knife from his belt that the girl hadn't noticed until then. The blade reflected the stars. She froze with terror. Her blood ran cold. Why hadn't she listened to her parents? She could be safe in her hotel room right now. If only she had listened. She wondered who would come to her funeral.

The man took his time walking to her. His steps were slow. _He's torturing me, _she thought. _He wants my fear to eat at me._ It was working.

_I'm going to die._

_I'm going to die._

_I'm going to die._

She kept repeating this line in her head. She couldn't take this. She screamed at the top of her voice, "Leave me alone!"

The man kept walking closer. Her back pressed against the wall. He was fifteen feet away.

"Please." The girl was desperate.

The man was twelve feet away.

"You'll rot in jail."

The man was ten feet away.

"My parents won't let you get away with this."

The man spoke for the first time. "I know you don't have parents."

What was he talking about? Of course she had parents. They were in the hotel room. A horrible thought crossed her mind. What if he had done something to them?

The man was five feet away. Then four feet. Then three. He was so close she could touch him.

"Prepare to die, little missy."

The girl screamed.

She looked right into his eyes. They stood out from the mask. "Please don't kill me."

He was about to say something, but he looked at her eyes. The look in his eyes changed from vengeance to anger. But he wasn't angry at her, he was mad at himself. For reasons the girl didn't understand, he back away, and left her in the alleyway.

The girl stayed there for the better part of a half hour. Then she looked around and ran as fast as her legs permitted her too. She had gotten away with her life. She didn't know what happened. She didn't know what made him change his mind.

She didn't know it was all a matter of mistaken identity.


	5. Angelina's Past

_Disclaimer- I do not own The Thief Lord._

_I'm going to go more into Angelina's past with this chapter. Enjoy._

Angelina's Past

She was a warrior. That's what Angelina's mother always called her. Angelina remembered her mom's face when she was ten and she punched Robby Sanders. On the first day of school he called her a wimp and pulled her braids on the playground. Then he kicked dirt on Sarah Riddles' jeans. Angelina had hit him hard in the lip. She smiled when she thought of how Robby cried and threw a huge fit. She smiled again how he asked her to the eighth grade dance three years later.

Angelina's mom wasn't mad when Angelina got a two day suspension from school for hitting Robby. Angelina actually cried when she told her mom what happened, which was one of the few times she ever did so. She thought her mom would be mad at her. But her mom praised her for sticking up for herself and her friend. That's when she got her family nickname. The little warrior.

Angelina wasn't so little for long. She was five foot six now, and compared to her mom, who was five-one, she was freakishly tall.

She could also remember the night she last saw her mom. Her sister Ellie had showed up on the front steps, her eyes filled with tears. She wouldn't tell her family what happened, but her parents let her stay the night in the attic bedroom.

Then there was the fire. Angelina remembered being awakened by pain. A hot splinter of wood had landed on her arm. She had brushed it off quickly, and looked around. The house that would normally be dark, looked black, yellow, and grey.

_What's happening? _Angelina had thought. She was half asleep. _Maybe I'm dreaming._

But in a dream you can't feel a burning splinter of wood, or taste the smoke in the air when you breathed.

She couldn't remember much of what happened next. But she knew she had escaped her house. Alone.

The fire trucks were just coming up the driveway when she stumbled out of the burning building.

Later they told her it was a miracle she lived. The police who arrived said her family died. They found the bodies of her parents, and even though they hadn't found Ellie's, they assured her that she couldn't have survived. The attic was a fire hazard. There wasn't a smoke detector and it was filled to the brim with old boxes, packed away in storage for another day. The entire house was old, wooden and in the middle of nowhere, and if a neighbor hadn't seen smoke rising over the trees when she woke up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, the fire trucks might never have come at all.

That was how Angelina lost her family. She was sent to live with her aunt and uncle. She felt alone. She knew, even when the police didn't believe her, that someone set her house on fire. The same person Ellie was crying about. The same person who put the bomb in her uncle's car that, fortunately, malfunctioned and only caused Angelina and her uncle minor injuries.

That's when Angela ran away. First she went to the woods that she played in when she was younger. Near the stream that ran through it there was a tree that hung over the water. And between the tree and the ground there was a coffee can.

Inside the can there was money that Angelina and Ellie had put in there, a long time before. They told each other that if they ever needed it they would use it.

Then, somehow, after several weeks, Angelina ended up in Italy.

Angelina was wondering through the dark alleyways alone, which, she knew wasn't a safe thing to do anywhere in the world, and she heard something that sounded like a hurt animal. Ahead she spotted a kitten, limping and cut.

She picked up the little creature, which again, wasn't safe, because the cat could be diseased. _Do they have rabies in Italy?_ Angelina wondered. The disease was in the U.S.

But Angelina couldn't ignore an injured animal. She loved animals. She took the mangy kitten back to the Stella, and fixed it's injuries the best she could.

Angelina went to bed and when she woke up the kitten was gone. She was alone, again.

_That was a sort of random ending. I couldn't think of anything better. Please review. Sorry it's been a while, darn writer's block. _


	6. A New Life

_Disclaimer- I do not own Thief Lord. _

_Also, to anyone reading this, please review. I'm sort of sad that the last three chapters only got one review each._

A New Life

Casey Winters sat at her desk. She was nearly twenty and was a promising journalist.

Her boyfriend was going to meet her after work. _Carlos really is a good guy,_ she thought to herself. How different her life was now! Only recently had she weaned herself of cigarettes, but it seemed like forever since she did drugs.

She could do without the new boss, though. He always gave her the least exciting articles to write. She looked at the one currently on her computer screen:

**Five Simple and Delicious Biscuit Recipes**

Honestly, who the heck cared about biscuit recipes? Casey sighed. A red curl of hair dropped in front of her eyes. That was another thing that was different. She used to die her hair blond, but she truly did like her hair better as its natural reddish color. There weren't many redheads in Italy. It made her stick out, but it didn't matter much to her.

She checked her watch. Ten minutes until she left work.

Back in her old life she disappeared a lot. She drove the people who loved her most over the edge.

She gazed out the window. Two boys were outside. An angel haired boy about eight threw food to the pigeons. The other was tall and about fourteen, and Casey assumed it was his brother. It was nice to see.

She was shaken back to reality when her boss came in. "Cassandra!"

"Actually I prefer Casey," she said. Then, as an afterthought she added, "Sir."

Her 'sir' was in vain, though, as her boss didn't seem to hear her sentence. He went on about something, but, as usual, Casey wasn't listening.

He kept on talking, and, to Casey's dismay, didn't stop until after five. _I'll have to call Carlos and tell him I'll be late_, she thought.

She hurried out of the building. People were crowded the roads. It was a bit annoying, since Casey wasn't the kind of person who liked to be around many people.

Casey called Carlos, and went home to change. She took a shower and put on her makeup. She pinned her hair up. She looked through her closet to find something to wear. A box fell down from the top shelf. Inside of the box lied one of Casey's many secrets. A gun.

No, she never actually shot anyone with the gun. She hadn't even used it more than a few times, and that was before she had even come to Italy, just to practice aiming. Guns were illegal in Europe, but in the U.S. there was the right to bear arms. She had gotten the gun there.

And she still had it out of fear. She feared she would need protection. She feared more of her secrets would catch up with her one day.

She shoved the gun case back into her closet, locked with a combination lock. She pulled out a black dress she loved, and pulled it on.

All this time, the TV was on. It blared, but Casey hardly listened. She came out of her bedroom, walked over to turn the thing off, and said, "Oh my God."


	7. Unpleasant Surprises

_Disclaimer- I hope you all know I do not own The Thief Lord. Also, I learned something very pleasing. Fanfiction is not illegal. Sweet!_

_I will update this story once a week from now on. I'll probably post on Saturdays and Sundays. Also, I know in the last chapter I just sort of made Casey a character at random but she will be important to the end of the story, and she won't show up again until then._

Unpleasant Surprises

Angelina dumped the latest batch of money she _acquired _into the empty large paper cup she had found. She couldn't have more than twenty Euros, not including the emergency money she was keeping, but she wasn't planning to steel more money, not then. The steeling never felt good, even if it was entirely necessary. She'd been skipping meals, but she was okay. She wasn't torturing herself to live off less food.

Being alone wasn't killing her off, either, although she did get bored without other people around. And who knew that fighting for your life would give you so much extra time? Steel, eat, sleep, and… what else was there? Often times she would wait outside the shops and watch the people go by.

One of these times, a woman fainted in front of her. Angelina ran to the woman, and so did a man. Angelina shook her shoulder. She wasn't waking up. Her chest still rose and fell, meaning she wasn't dead. Angelina tried to prop her head up, and felt something liquid. A small amount of blood was staining the woman's hair. She must have scraped her head on the ground when she fell.

The man with her pulled out his phone. He said something in a language Angelina figured was German, and dialed a number. A few more people were asking what had happened.

The woman woke and came to her senses. "What happened?" she asked.

"You fainted," Angelina answered.

Another woman shoed the gathered people away. "Nothing to see here, go back to your own business," she said, also leaving. The surrounding people parted, except for Angelina.

"Signora, what's your name?" Angelina asked.

The woman blinked her eyes. "Ida Spavento."

"You should go to the hospital," Angelina told her.

"Nonsense, I'm fine," Signora Spavento told her. She put one hand to the back of her head.

"You hit it when you fell," Angelina explained. "But really, Signora, you should get someone to get you. At least to make sure you get home okay. Do you have a husband?"

"No. But I suppose I should call someone." She pulled out her cell phone and dialed. Someone must have picked up. She explained her situation to someone named Lucia, and hung up. "My maid will come for me. I don't live far from here." Angelina thought again about how easy cars made everything. Except she wondered if Ms. Spavento would have insisted driving herself home if a car was available.

"Can you stand?"

Signora Spavento shakily stood. "I'm fine." She smoothed out here skirt. Soon enough a plump woman showed up. Behind her came four kids, three of them about Angelina's age. She recognized two of them. One was the girl she had met at the Stella. The other one was the boy she saw Christmas day, months before.

He recognized her, too. He looked at her, presumably thinking. All four of the kids greeted her. None of them resembled each other. Ida introduced them all. Their names were Hornet, Scipio (whom Angelina already knew the names of), Bo, and Prosper. Angelina said her name. Hornet said, "I know, we've already met." Surprise flashed in Scipio's eyes, but it was quickly hidden. What were the chances of the millions of people that lived in Venice or were tourists, these were the people she'd come in contact with. She hoped that Hornet girl would keep her promise.

Over Ida's shoulder she saw a man. "I'm sorry, I have to go," she said, leaving as quickly as possible before anyone could say anything else. She fallowed the man, who appeared to not be doing anything particular, just watching and waiting. She couldn't see his face. She edged her way around him without him seeing her.

The man turned his head to the side. Angelina only saw half his face, but it was enough. She hightailed as fast as possible in the opposite direction he was going. She needed to get back to the Stella as fast as possible. It was him. She knew it. He was her family's murderer.


	8. Wondering

_Disclaimer- I do not own the Thief Lord, if I did, this would a) probably be written in German, and b) wouldn't be here._

Wondering

"You knew that girl?" Scipio asked Hornet.

"Yeah," started Hornet, remembering the promise she'd made to the girl, Angelina, about not telling anyone where she was. "I met her shopping."

"I see. Did you find her odd at all?" Scipio asked, also remembering. But he was thinking of the first time he met the strange girl; covered with snow on Christmas day.

Hornet thought for a second, "A little, given her situation. Why do you want to know?"

"I'm curious. What situation?"

"Nothing."

"No really. What situation?" Scipio prodded.

Hornet, realizing she said more than she should, said, "I think she's a runaway."

"What makes you think that?" Scipio asked.

_She told me so, _Hornet thought. "Promise not to tell anyone?"

"Sure."

"I met her at the Stella. She was hiding out there. She said she was an orphan," Hornet confessed.

Wasn't it weird how she ended up in the Stella, the theatre his father owned? The theatre where Hornet herself once lived? The place seemed to attract runaway children. Maybe there should be a sign that said "Runaway hotel" above the door. But that wasn't the point. Now Scipio knew where to find Angelina. Maybe he could help her.

"What are you thinking?" Hornet interrupted his thoughts.

"Nothing," Scipio answered.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Scipio didn't get the opportunity to pay a visit to Angelina that day. Victor was tracking down an ex-husband who refused to pay child support. There were papers to file, information to look up, people to call, and a dozen other tiresome tasks that became Scipio's responsibility.

Bored out of his wits, Scipio looked up the name of the ex-husband. Nothing about him came up. Interestingly enough a website filled with news reports came up, and Scipio found a man of the same name but several years younger. He was an American drug dealer who disappeared before going to trial. His girlfriend had also turned up dead; shot through the heart in broad daylight. No witnesses had turned up, even though she was killed in the middle of town.

But this was the American's problem, right?


	9. Footprints

_Disclaimer- I do not own the Thief Lord._

_Please review. I need to know what you think of this story. It takes three seconds. All reviews welcome._

Footprints

When faced with a person that killed your family and was most likely tracking you down for a reason unknown to you, you'd most likely freak out, and attempt to hide. For Angelina, she exceeded in the first one, but she decided just going into hiding wasn't the best way to avoid being found. She'd already done that. She had to leave the city and possibly even Italy.

While she was freaking out, she purchased a cheap bag to hold all of her possessions, which was still few. She had a few changes in clothes, the knife she had found (yes, it was just lying around under some trash), and some other necessities.

Yet again, Angelina remembered when she first saw the dangerous murderer. He looked tough but he smiled and was friendly. Angelina didn't hate him then; she didn't know what he was capable of.

Angelina had been eleven then. Roughly four years before. Ellie had been responsible for babysitting her and keeping her occupied. Ellie wanted to hang out with her friends, and Angelina had to come with her.

The murderer had seemed nicer to her than her sister was. Ellie was always so rude and talked down to her. The murderer had acknowledged her. He listened when she talked. He included her. Now that she thought about it, wasn't that what cult leaders did? Make the people they were talking to feel like they were somebody so they could get their trust and abuse it?

Anyhow, that's basically what the sociopath murderer did. He lured in people to be his friends, like Ellie. He abused them, led them to steal, drink and do drugs and none of them thought bad of him.

Angelina traveled by foot down to the canal. She savored one last look over the city. Was this the last time she'd ever see it? Would she ever come back?

She went back to the Stella to retrieve her bag. Did she have enough money to go by train to Rome? To France? She wasn't sure.

She didn't notice the set of footprints in the dust that were bigger than hers. She had gone back and forth through the same entranceway so many times she didn't pay particular attention to any of the tracks. The path were she most commonly walked was clear in the dirt. Prints couldn't even be distinctly identifiable.

She left her bag on one of the remaining seats. She found it easily. She started over to it, but saw a white hand grab it first.

There was only a dim light that still illuminated the theatre, and she couldn't see the bag snatchers face clearly.

"Drop it," she ordered.

"You're going somewhere?" It was the boy, Scipio.

"Give it to me," she commanded again.

Scipio ignored her. Angelina came over, fists balled, and pulled the bag away. Scipio didn't try to hold onto it.

"Where are you going?" Scipio asked.

"Nowhere."

"So you just packed all your stuff so you could stay here?" Scipio asked.

"Why don't you go away?"

But Scipio didn't mind her open hostility. "Why'd you runaway?"

Darn it all. That Hornet girl must have told him. "I'm an orphan."

"I don't believe that."

"It's true," Angelina said, meaning it.

"I didn't mean that wasn't true, I meant that I don't believe that's why you're here. And why you're leaving."

"I have some enemies, okay?"

"What kind of enemies?"

"The murdering kind." Angelina said, wondering how far she could run before Scipio would catch up to her. She was closer to the door, but he had longer legs. Should she risk it?

"So you aggravated someone who wants to murder you?"

"I didn't do anything. I don't even know how I got in this mess."

"Have you tried to get help from the police?"

"Of course I have. I didn't just come here because I forgot the number for 9-1-1."

"And what did they do?" Scipio asked with interest.

"They tried to help. They really did. But in the end that's what got me here. If I never went to them I'd be safe."

"What exactly happened?"

"It's a long story," Angelina said.

"I've got time," Scipio said, taking a seat.

_I don't, _Angelina thought, and sat down beside him.


	10. Why?

_Disclaimer- I do not own The Thief Lord._

_Also, I haven't gotten any reviews on any of my latest chapters. Readers, please review. I'm on the verge of insanity._

Why?

Angelina explained everything. Except for the fact that she was planning to be on a train in a few hours; she craftily left that part out.

Scipio listened, and at the end, he said, "You're from America, aren't you? Isn't there some sort of witness protection program?"

"Yes," Angelina said, realizing he didn't get the point. "But he would hurt someone else. My family, friends, a neighbor or whoever else he could get his hands on. He'd want to torture me emotionally, make me come back so he could get his revenge. If he's chasing me, everyone else will be safe." She still only referred to her family's killer as 'he'.

At that moment, Scipio understood that in some part of this girl's mind, she was hoping the killer would chase her. But at the same time she was afraid, very afraid.

"So you're just planning to play a game of cat and mouse, forever," Scipio thought out loud.

Angelina nodded. "That's the only outcome I can think of. _He _will never be behind bars. There's not enough evidence to convict him of anything."

But of course Scipio could think of another outcome and was pretty sure she knew it, too. Death. Angelina would run from this killer until one of them was dead. And if this man was really as dangerous as Angelina said, the chances are it would be him who ended up victorious.

"They have to be able to get him on something," Scipio said. "An illegal weapon charge or a drug use charge. There has to be something."

"There isn't," Angelina said. "Everyone knows… what he does," Angelina continued, trying to think of the least painful way of putting it. "I do, the police do. But he leaves no evidence! That's my point! He can commit brutal, evil crimes and no one can prove it! He's a criminal genius."

Scipio thought for a second, and then said, "There are people who can help you hide. And he won't have to know."

Angelina frowned. "I don't ever want anyone to get hurt because of me," she said simply.

Angelina's head had been hurting for a while now. She felt cold. She figured it was because she didn't want to talk about these things, and they were making her feel sick.

"Are you okay?" Scipio asked. Even in the dim light it was visible that the girl next to him was getting pale.

"I'm fine," Angelina said.

"I still have one question," Scipio said, still looking at her with concern. "I mean, you were supposed to testify in court against him and all that, but why did he target your family to begin with?"

Angelina blinked. It was the same question she'd been asking herself for months. She didn't have to clear a picture, but a nagging feeling in her heart told her it lead back to Ellie. "I don't know," she confessed. "I truly don't know."

Scipio nodded. He checked his watch. "I have to go," he said. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Sure," Angelina answered, knowing that she would be far, far away by then. Scipio turned and walked out.

Finally, he was gone. This was the chance she needed. She gathered her things. Her head was now almost unbearably painful. She now knew she was getting sick. She must have a fever, like she'd had in the past. Fevers were always hard on her body. This time was no different.

But still she had to get to the train station. She wanted to be in Madrid as soon as possible. Her family's killer was closing in on her.

Meanwhile, Angelina wasn't the only one being deceitful. Scipio was waiting a short distance away from the Stella; in a place he'd have view of the door. Angelina was going to go somewhere. He knew that much from the bag she had packed.

So, when she got out he would follow her. He didn't know what he'd do and he didn't have much of a plan for what he'd do once he discovered her destination, but he'd think of something.

Sure enough, Angelina came out of the Stella wearing a hat and a pair of sunglasses that covered some of her features. Her walk was a little bit weak. She swayed. After attempting to walk farther she leaned against the wall and slid to the ground.


	11. Hallucinations

_Disclaimer- I don't own The Thief Lord, but if I did, that would be so awesome!_

_A very short chapter this week. The next one will be longer. I won't post another chapter next week, because of Christmas and everything. Also I have a new poll on my profile. Please vote._

Hallucinations

Angelina saw several things as she hallucinated. Most of which were random nothings and things like vampire cows and ax-murdering mummies, but at one time she saw something else entirely.

She found herself wearing a white dress in front of a large tunnel, made of a substance she had never seen before and couldn't describe. It was almost alive and green. There were no better existing words for it, however, and Angelina found herself at a loss.

She saw her parents floating at the end of the long, indescribable tunnel. They had sad eyes as they looked at her. Behind them were Grandma Mary and Grandpa Stuart. They too looked at her miserably. Did they not want to see her?

Angelina tried to go toward them, but she couldn't move. Her arms wouldn't obey her, and her legs seemed to be bound with invisible bindings. And her family members didn't try to come to her, either. Her head hurt like heck, and her lungs ached as she breathed.

Her mouth was the only thing that seemed to be working. She called out to them, but they showed no signs of hearing her.

No part of her mind processed the fact that these people were dead, and she, hopefully, was still alive.

Eventually Angelina's family members started floating farther and farther away until Angelina could not see them anymore. "Don't go," she called. "Please don't go." The tunnel closed up. Feeling greatly disappointed, Angelina stopped trying to move, and everything slowly grew black.


	12. Running Away Again

_Disclaimer- I do not own The Thief Lord._

_I took two weeks off for the holidays, not that I had computer access for most of it. I hope you enjoy. Two to four chapters left (I haven't actually broken up what I have to do.)_

Running Away (Again)

Angelina had been surprised when she woke up to find that she was safe in a bed in a strange house she had never seen before. She recognized the little boy who greeted her as she opened her eyes. Bo was his name.

And then there was the doctor. Ida and Dr. Ricci recognized that she was trying not to be found. So the doctor would come to Ida's for twenty minutes or so after his normal work hours. As Dr. Ricci put it, she had a horrible fever that was helped along by her skipping meals and the lack of a warm, safe environment.

Even though food and safety was what she was getting here, she couldn't help but worry. Worry about her family's killer, mostly. She could not stop obsessing over him. What if he found out where she was and placed another bomb? Set another fire? There were too many risks.

As Angelina sat down to eat breakfast one morning, Ida talked to her. "You can stay here as long as you like," Ida said. She knew Angelina was getting better, and she didn't want the weakened girl to leave. "It's safe here; you can stay for a while."

"Okay," Angelina nodded. It was best to agree, no matter what you were planning.

"Do you have any family?" Ida asked.

Angelina thought of her aunt and uncle, safe and sound in the U.S. "No one," Angelina answered.

"So you're all alone," Ida concluded, picking up a cigarette. It was a nasty habit, but she was addicted.

Angelina nodded.

"So what are you planning to do?" Ida asked.

"I don't know," answered Angelina, swallowing another bite of food.

"You can stay here, you know," Ida said. "With Hornet, Prosper, Bo and me."

Angelina wasn't sure what to say. She didn't want to tell the woman she'd be here permanently if she wasn't. And she couldn't stay here in comfort and see the people who protected her get hurt, again. "I'll think about it," she finally answered.

In truth, there was no thinking to be done. Angelina was already packed. The same handbag still had all of her original stuff. She decided not to keep anything Ida bought her. It just didn't feel right, as she was never going to see her again. But Angelina did make sure she was properly washed and fed.

As a last minute decision she took all the medicine Dr. Ricci had given her. She didn't want to get sicker.

In the dead of night she opened the window of the room she was staying in. She climbed a short distance to the ground. The stones jostled as she walked over them through the city she had come to know so well.

The path to the place she wanted to be wound her around back past the Stella theatre and several of the shops she had frequented.

Meanwhile, Bo had a bad dream and absent mindedly walked across the hall to where Angelina had slept for the past two weeks. He didn't find the girl, however, and continued down the hall to Prospers room, both to crawl into bed with him and ask where Angelina went.

Prosper, who had grown to be friends with Angelina, had been a bit curious about why the girl had seemed so agitated earlier in the day for no apparent reason. He too wondered where she could be at two a.m., so he and Bo went down stairs. She wasn't there, nor was she in the bathroom. After several minutes they woke Ida.

"What do you mean you can't find her?" Ida asked, remembering Hornet and Scipio telling her they thought she might leave.

Within a half hour Hornet was up and Victor was called. A fifteen year old girl wondering around the streets of Venice during the earliest hours of the morning wasn't good. Didn't she know there were criminals around?

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

On her way to the train station, she knew that someone had found her missing when she saw the police asking people if they saw a medium height blond girl. She hoped she would make it on the first train in the morning without being found, but apparently that was out of the question.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The killer saw the girl leave the house. How coincidental it was that he was just outside when she was making her great escape. But she wasn't going to be lucky this time. She'd pay for what she did.

And the silver coloring of a shot gun shined briefly in the limited light before the man hid it beneath his coat.


	13. Angelina's End?

_Disclaimer- I don't own __The Thief Lord__, anyone reading this should know that._

_Only one more chapter, which will be a bit like an epilogue. I'm trying to wrap everything up. Enjoy! I am going with the original happy ending for this fanfic, so don't be deceived._

Angelina's End?

Scipio had an instinct he had developed as a detective, and for some unknown reason he had decided not to look for Angelina as the rest of his friends did, but to follow the big, dangerous looking man he had seen before when he was trying to track Angelina the first time, the man who had scowled at her. Call it his sixth sense. Because the man obviously didn't pay much attention to anything except where he was going, and eventually Scipio's instinct rewarded him.

After going through alleyways and down roads and covering what must have been three quarters of the city, the man came upon a house for sale that looked like it had not been lived in for months. He glanced in the window and tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge. He looked around, and Scipio hid behind a trash can. The man then circled around to the other side of the dwelling. Scipio didn't trust the man, and when he left Scipio went up to the window to see what he was looking at. The room he saw was entirely empty for a moment; until a now familiar person walked in. Angelina.

Something was wrong, Scipio could tell. Very wrong. He tapped on the glass, and the girl looked up. Her first reaction was fear for being found again so quickly, but something must have told her something was up, because she signaled for him to go around to the door. She unlocked it from the inside. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"I saw a man circle the house. I don't like the looks of him."

Angelina's face showed immediate concern. "Did he have a snake tattoo on the back of his neck?" Scipio nodded and she turned white. She grabbed Scipio's jacket hurried to the door, looked back and forth, and stealthily headed out the front door, trying to sneak out as quickly and efficiently as possible. She looked around the corner, and seeing no one, she and Scipio prepared to make a run for it, only to find her enemy behind them.

The first thing that left her lips was, "Why?"

The man smiled the evilest smile anyone could ever muster. "You went to the police."

"I went to the police to tell them I saw someone fleeing our property the night of the fire. How was I supposed to know it was you? And the police wouldn't have any evidence either, how would they convict you?"

"I don't believe you, little girl. I don't trust you as far as I can throw you," the man said.

"It's true," Angelina said, and nudged Scipio's back, trying to get him to make a run for it. Some invisible force bound his feet and he couldn't bring himself to go and leave the girl alone with a murderer. She jabbed him harder, but he didn't move, not one inch.

The man eased his way closer to the two teenagers, and Scipio felt it harder to stay strong. _This isn't your problem,_ a voice in his head screamed. _Run before you end up with a bullet through your heart._

Angelina didn't run either, but Scipio could tell she was having the same thoughts he was, but she stayed still. Her pupils flickered side to side, as if looking for someone who could save them. But it appeared no one was there. No one at all.

The man held the gun up to Angelina's forehead, then to her temple. She swallowed. He brought the gun to the back of her neck and pressed the barrel into her spine. But apparently he didn't agree with that form of execution, so he took a step back, and took aim at her heart. "You killed your girlfriend," Angelina said. "You killed my mom, and my dad, and Ellie," she said, which could possibly be her final words. "Don't kill us, too."

And two shots were heard.


	14. Everything After

_Disclaimer- I do not own The Thief Lord._

_The end is here. Review; tell me what you all think. I tried to make this make as much sense as possible._

Everything After

_Scipio remembered what happened. Everything was so fast, it was almost impossible to register every detail on time, but Scipio did his best. He saw the murderer cock his gun and raise it, ready to fire. Angelina must have figured she was to die anyway, so she grabbed the gun and tried to redirect it away from herself._

_But the man was stronger. He managed to shake her off and knock her to the ground. Right before he pulled the trigger, Scipio managed to nudge him, but the bullet still buried itself into Angelina's chest. Then the man fell to the ground, a blood stain of blood swelling on his temple. Scipio hadn't noticed the second gunshot, coming from far away. He looked around, and saw a red haired woman._

_"I'm too late," the woman cried, "I'm too late."_

_But she wasn't too late. Angelina was still alive._

And now Scipio was sitting, by her bedside, holding her hand as she slept. He had been there every day for the last five days. The truth hadn't fully sunk in yet.

Angelina was going to be all right.

Her sister Ellie was there. The red haired woman. She originally introduced herself as Casey Winters, but corrected herself. Force of habit, she had explained. He didn't know what her issues were, but he didn't need to know. He had enough to think about. Scipio got up abruptly and left. Ida was expecting him.

Angelina woke up a few hours later. The pain medication was making her tired a lot of the time. She saw her sister's face. Like Scipio, she was having trouble excepting truth. She couldn't believe the sister whom she thought dead was here.

She remembered waking up. Ellie said she fled before the fire started. She never knew her parents died. She cried. It was just Angelina and Ellie now. And their aunt and uncle, waiting for them in the U.S. When Ellie got to the part of her new name, Angelina smiled. Angelina's real name was Cassandra Angelina Brenan. Casey.

And Calvin Diamond was dead.

Calvin Diamond, the man who murdered his girlfriend, and Angelina's parents. The man who destroyed Angelina's life temporarily was gone. He wasn't going to hurt anyone ever again. And Angelina would have to live with this fact and try to move on with her life.

* * *

Scipio listened as the loud speaker announced the arrival of Angelina's plane. "I guess this is good-bye," Angelina said. They were at the airport.

Scipio nodded. He wasn't going to pretend he knew the girl next to him well. But they both almost died together, and that alone made them friends. He dreaded seeing her go back to America. They both knew there wasn't anything meaningful that could be said. But they hugged and said their good-byes anyway. They'd see each other again. Ellie, or, more appropriately, Casey Winters, still had a life in Venice. A job, an apartment, and a boyfriend.

Angelina and Ellie got on the plane. Angelina looked back as she boarded. And soon enough, she was gone.


End file.
